Today, network operators, carriers and service providers (collectively referred to as “service providers”) provide services to their customers via a contract that involves a service plan that outlines how much data, voice, or texting (SMS) is allowed in an allotted time-frame or billing cycle (typically a month), along with the costs associated with using the services within the established guidelines in the plan. Also provided in the service plan are any additional costs for activities that exceed the service plan parameters, such as, for example, going over the service plan limits (overages) or going off network (roaming). The costs of going over the pre-established limits can be very high, and a small overage (<10%) can actually double the cost of the initial plan. An even smaller overage (<1%) can double the plan cost if off network or roaming.
To avoid such events, some network operators have employed a number of existing systems, such as, for example, SMS messaging and physically mailed letters via overnight courier to warn users and companies that they have exceeded the limits of their service plans.
However, none of these methods are fail safe ensuring that the user has actually received notice of the service plan overage(s). As the speed of communication networks has increased dramatically, the rate at which overage or roaming charges can accumulate has increased exponentially. This is especially so in view of the dramatic increase in data usage with smart phone devices in the past few years. Any system that adds even minutes of delay to the notification process, can lead to a large unexpected overage(s) for the user/company.
Such overages can be extremely costly to the user. Additionally, if the user disputes the overage(s), based on, for example, lack of notification or knowledge of the potential charges, the service provider could have to spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with the dispute and may not prevail. In any event, even if the service provider is able to collect the excess fees, a situation develops where the user is dissatisfied with the service provided.
Some systems have been provided that seek a confirmation from a user including U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0277120 (the '120 application). The '120 application deals with prompting users for confirmations for actions initiated on the device. The '120 application, however, fails to disclose or teach that an audit trail of actions/acknowledgements by the user is maintained or stored. Accordingly, the '120 application would not address the problem of ensuring and providing verifiable notice to the service provider that the user is actually notified of any potential increase in fees for out of service plan usage. Additionally, the '120 application does not provide any flexibility for the user to selectively deactivate services based a notification. In other words, the user would not be able to mitigate the potential increase in costs for out of plan usage short of simply turning the device completely off.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0107051 (the '051 application) is directed toward a method for sending a message to a mobile device. The '051 application is directed toward a system to acknowledge user initiated messages that have been generated on the mobile device and obtaining an acknowledgement from a remote server side or application side system. However, the '051 application fails to disclose or teach a system that will prompt the user to acknowledge a message that is automatically generated based on a select criteria (e.g., reach a voice/data/SMS service plan limit, etc.). Likewise, the '051 application also fails to disclose or teach a system that allows for an audit trail or for the flexibility for the user to selectively deactivate services based a notification.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,122,671 (the '671 patent) mentions user acknowledgment for specific messages. However, the '671 patent, like the above-listed published applications, fails to disclose or teach a system that provides for the receipt and storing of any sort of audit trail of actions/acknowledgements by the user. Nor does the '671 patent provide any flexibility for the user to selectively deactivate services based a notification. As such, the '671 patent is deficient for all the reasons stated above in connection with the cited published patent applications.
What is needed, therefore, is a more effective alert mechanism for alerting a user to potential increases in fees for out of service plan usage; and a more effective recording mechanism for providing feedback to the service provider that the user acknowledges that out of service plan usage fees will begin accruing.